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Ideological and Religious Expressions in the Translation of Earnest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea into Arabic

Authors

  • Zaydun A. Al-Shara Email ORCID

    Department of English Language and Literature, School of Foreign Languages, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
  • Lee Jung Ae ORCID

    Department of Asian Languages, School of Foreign Languages, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
  • Sharif Alghazo ORCID

    Department of Foreign Languages, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates

    Department of English Language and Literature, School of Foreign Languages, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
  • Mohd Nour Al Salem ORCID

    Department of English Language and Literature, School of Foreign Languages, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i11.11368
Received: 30 July 2025 | Revised: 15 August 2025 | Accepted: 2 September 2025 | Published Online: 21 October 2025

Abstract

Earnest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1952) depicts a man's existential struggle through the events of a fisherman who desperately struggles to catch a giant fish. The challenges the protagonist faces drive him to rely on his faith in God as the novel teems with religious utterances and symbols. This study examines the religious and ideological terms and expressions in Hemingway's novel, the source text (ST), and explains how each translator renders these religious expressions in a manner that conforms with the expectations of their audiences. This study compares the two Arabic translations of the novel by two translators from different ideological and religious backgrounds. The translations of this novel show many discrepancies, particularly with regard to the choice of religious terms. The study selects examples from the source text, i.e., English, into the target text, i.e., Arabic, by two Arab translators, Muneer Ba’lbaki (Muslim) and Gabrielle Wahbeh (Christian), that show how the ideology of the translator, specifically religion, influences the choice of terms and expressions. This study finds that the translator's religious, personal, and cultural backgrounds, in this case study, partially affect his or her choice of translated expressions to meet his ideology and the target audiences' expectations.

Keywords:

Hemingway, Ideology, Religious Terms, The Old Man and the Sea, Translation, Arabic

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2025 Vol.7 No.11

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Copyright © 2025 Zaydun A. Al-Shara, Lee Jung Ae, Sharif Alghazo, Mohd Nour Al Salem

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